Duque officially inaugurated the work

With a shout of Viva Colombia !, President Iván Duque celebrated on Friday the delivery of the Line Tunnel, the most important road infrastructure work in the country.

Minutes before untying the knot that symbolizes the entry into operation of the work, of about 8.6 kilometers in length, whose construction lasted more than a decade, the president paid tribute to the more than 6 thousand workers who made the project possible .

Also read: This was the construction process of the La Línea Tunnel

“When you pass through this place, park the car for a moment to remember these heroes,” he said as he passed by the so-called Monument to the Heroes of the Tunnel, where the names of 6,072 people who participated in its construction appear.

After the opening ceremony, at the entrance to the tunnel on the side of Quindío, President Duque, who was accompanied by his wife, María Juliana Ruíz, the Vice President, Martha Lucía Ramírez, and the Minister of Transportation, Angela Orozco, among other officials , got into a vehicle that he drove himself and officially toured the main tunnel of the road for the first time.

At the exit of the tunnel, already in the department of Tolima, he discovered a commemorative plaque with the names of the officials involved in the completion of the project.

In addition to the main tunnel, this Friday another four tunnels of 343, 627 and 900 meters, five viaducts, 13.4 kilometers of dual carriageway through Alto de la Línea and two road interchanges are being delivered.

The entire project, which is still under construction, includes a dual carriageway between Cajamarca (Tolima) and Calarcá (Quindío) of more than 30 kilometers, 25 tunnels, 31 viaducts and 3 interchanges. The rest of the project will be delivered during the first semester of next year.

Parallel to the main tunnel is a rescue tunnel that can be accessed by 17 galleries each 500 meters apart. Each one is hermetically sealed to prevent the penetration of gases in the event of fire.

The rescue tunnel is the same pilot tunnel that was the first that was built when the Government was structured by the minister of the time, Andrés Uriel Gallego.